Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

Faced with a budget cut of 37%, increasing caseload and falling staff numbers, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in England (LGSCO) responded with a radical process transformation project.

Simplified, streamlined ways of working resulted in increased productivity and reduced cost per case. Performance targets were exceeded, and quality standards improved.

LGSCO uses Workpro case management system to manage all complaints and enquiries. Workpro is used throughout the organisation, from frontline staff in the intake team, to caseworkers in the assessment and investigation teams. An update of the Workpro system to match and support LGSCO’s new business processes was key to the project’s success.

Prior to the organisational revamp, the process was over-complicated and too many cases were being passed to investigation. This caused a bottleneck in the system, with little differentiation in the handling of complex and less complex cases.

This mattered. By the time people contact the Ombudsman they have usually gone through a lengthy complaints process with the service provider. Patience is wearing thin and, crucially, systemic injustices could keep occurring if not quickly identified and put right.

The process was radically re-designed.

An assessment stage was added to identify high risk cases. Like a hospital triage system, this enables LGO’s handling of cases to be proportionate to the issues raised. New performance targets were adopted and built in to the workflow, with alerts and reminders to keep staff on track.

One of the big winners was giving frontline staff the power to act and make decisions. The intake team can quickly resolve many queries at first contact by responding to the caller’s questions and concerns, providing advice about LGSCO’s role or how the complaints process works. The Workpro system provides step-by-step process guidance, with the ability to escalate for investigation when needed.

There has been a significant improvement in the time to respond to enquiries, and complete investigations. In 2019-2020 LGO dealt with 19,625 complaints and enquiries, with 78% of cases completed within three months. 47% are dealt with at the Initial Check stage.

Workpro supports productivity by:

• Validating case entry for accuracy and completeness, saving time and duplication of effort later.
• Ensuring consistency and speed, for example with email and document templates 
• Prompting action with alerts and reminders, including “third party chase ups”.
  
  

The Workpro upgrade went like clockwork but this was no happy accident. Priority was given to ensuring this part of the transformation project was a success.

Two key elements were critical:

• Joint development of a clear specification. 
• Joint top-level commitment to project success. 

Workpro staff participated in LGO team meetings during the process design stage to ensure that expectations were met and to ensure that work could be fully completed on time. Realistic and achievable aims for the upgrade were agreed by both sides.

Lines of communication were also agreed from the outset, with time taken to understand what had worked well in the past and what not so well, and to adopt new ways of joint working. This honest, frank and collaborative approach continues with ongoing meetings to agree future joint roadmaps.